Red China became a recurrent villain in Cold War literature; not as common as the Soviet Union, but definitely there. Using China instead of Russia allowed writers to work in some of the traditional mystique that Oriental culture seemed (to them) to have always been steeped in. It probably is no exaggeration to say that Red China was the Cold War-era successor to WWII's Imperial Japan in villain roles, in the same way that the Soviet Union was the successor to Those Wacky Nazis.

The portrayal of Communist China can be roughly divided into two periods:

The main cause of this was The Korean War - while the Soviets were not (obviously) attacking UN forces, which included the US and the UK, the Chinese most certainly were.

Red and Rich (c.1979 onward)

Not so much Dirty Communists here, although you will get Renegade Chinese. China becomes a rich, well-developed country, but still prone to torture and general international shadiness, although not on pre-79 levels. Many things are still Banned in China, though usually available through bootlegged media.

Why 1979, you may ask? Though China did start to open to the world in 1972 after Richard Nixon visited China, Mao Zedong had a stranglehold on power until his death in 1976, and supported the most radical politics in China. Immediately after he died, those radical elements were arrested, and Deng Xiaoping made a grab for control of the Party. The economic reforms he implemented in 1978 began to turn China from a sclerotic command economy into an economic powerhouse as foreign investment was allowed in ever-larger areas and ever-greater sections of the banking sector were freed up to invest in things that were actually profitable, as opposed to things the government thought the country 'should' havenote 'should' have to guarantee economic self-sufficiency (which had decreased overall economic efficiency in all sectors, not least because foreign banks were not allow to invest in the country), jobs (which meant an over-emphasis on job-creation and maintenance at the expense of [job-]efficiency), and support for the military (which had taken up an unhealthily large portion of the country's GDP). Additionally, the United States formally established diplomatic relations with China that year - up to that point, the US had recognized the Guomindang government on Taiwan.

Also notice that since China has lately acquired a huge potential as a consumer market for Western media, it makes almost no business sense to offend the Chinese censors and/or audience by casting China as the villain.

Examples:

In one of their adventures, Spirou and Fantasio sneak into China to free an American scientist who was held prisoner in a secret facility. However, the Chinese aren't depicted as outright villains, even though they definitely are the antagonists.

Played with in Les Innommables: the Chinese Communists are depicted as utterly merciless and depraved, but the main character's love interest is a fanatically loyal Communist agent. And the other sides aren't depicted in a much more favorable light either.

Wonder Woman: The mind-boggling weirdness that is the original version of Egg-Fu.

Marvel Comics's favorite kaiju Fin Fang Foom made his first appearance when a Formosan (Taiwanese) history student awakened him and lured him into the path of a Chinese military force that was set to invade Formosa. Fin defeated them easily, and the student then managed to return him to suspended animation.

Notably averted in Tomorrow Never Dies. That is, China exists as a possible enemy, but Wai Lin and Bond never really discuss or debate politics. Both China and the UK were being manipulated into war by a third party, and in the end the villain was exposed, his own forces destroyed, and everyone just went home.

The film Red Corner with Richard Gere was all over this trope (hence the film name).

Literature

Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton. Mr. Soo was an Red Chinese agent specializing in scientific espionage and sabotage. He appeared in The Menacers and The Poisoners, and was mentioned in The Interlopers.

Dreams Of Joy, the sequel to Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, takes place during the Great Leap Forward and is about a Chinese-American girl who goes to China to meet her long lost father.

Live-Action TV

24 has Jack Bauer attack the Chinese Consulate in Season Four, where the Consul is shot in the crossfire. At the end of Season Five, Jack is kidnapped by Chinese agents and put on a slow boat to China. He is returned at the beginning of Season Six.

JAG: In the two-part episode “Dog Robber”, a U.S. reconnaissance plane has to make an emergency landing in mainland China.

Although which category the Chinese faction falls into is never really specified, as they seem to take a vaguely nationalistic stance, if anything. However, they support the populist and presumably Marxist La Résistance and are willing to butt heads with the West, so the first form is at least implied.

Not that it is seen in the game but the background mentions that China's new generation leaders enacted a whole set of reforms and civil liberties. It still has the traces of authoritarianism but there is an implication that by 2020s China is a relatively free society with a militaristic bent like the United States, making it a wholly different type.

China is one of the foreign powers in Tropico4. It buys canned fish and pineapple, corn, goat cheese, llama wool, and cars. It likes you more if you have an open doors immigration policy, low liberty, and bad relations with the USSR. The benefits of good relations are cheaper luxury goods, increased commodity prices of canned goods, and the ability to ask for development aid in the form of 100 immigrants.

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